Re: a grammar question

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 17:36:36 -0400, Richard Wordingham
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

> However, the apostrophe inconsistently vanishes in proper names, e.g.
> the variation in placenames such as "St Martins" in Salop (Anglice
> 'Shropshire') but "St Martin's" near Perth (the old Scottish capital).
> Omission seems to be the rule in surnames.

Locally, afaik, there's never an apostrophe in "Marthas Vineyard".

--
nb
Near Boston, Mass.